DCCC Chairman Israel Announces First 35 Districts In Red To Blue Program, Historic High For Women

DCCC Chairman Steve Israel today announced the first round of candidates to qualify for the DCCC’s highly competitive Red to Blue program and emphasized that for the first time in committee history, women make up more than 60 percent of the list. These candidates have earned a spot on Red to Blue by surpassing aggressive fundraising, organization and infrastructure goals. These candidates also demonstrate they are problem solvers who will represent the American people’s priorities and strengthen the middle class.

In total, 35 districts are part of the initial list in the Red to Blue or Emerging Races programs. Of the 16 candidates selected for Red to Blue today, 10 are women. Chairman Israel announced that three districts with multiple Democratic candidates have also qualified for Red to Blue. In addition, Chairman Israel announced 12 Emerging Races and four Emerging Districts, where campaigns are on track and working hard to put seats in play.

“There’s no question – these candidates are on the side of average Americans, and they’ve shown throughout their careers that they’ll work together to help make the middle class more financially secure and solve our problems – the exact antidote to the flawed priorities of this broken Republican Congress,” Chairman Israel said. “These candidates earned their places in our battle-tested program because of their hard work and the competitive nature of their districts, and we will continue to work with them to build and execute winning campaigns.”

The following candidates were named to the Red to Blue program:

AR-02 – Patrick Henry Hays

CA-21 – Amanda Renteria

CO-06 – Andrew Romanoff

FL-02 – Gwen Graham

IA-03 – Staci Appel

IL-13 – Ann Callis

MI-01 – Jerry Cannon

MI-07 – Pam Byrnes

MT-AL – John Lewis

NM-02 – Roxanne "Rocky" Lara

NJ-03 – Aimee Belgard

NV-03 – Erin Bilbray

NY-04 – Kathleen Rice

NY-11 – Domenic Recchia

NY-23 – Martha Robertson

VA-10 – John Foust

The following races were named as Red to Blue districts:

CA-31

IA-01

ME-02

The following were named Emerging Races:

AR-01 – Jackie McPherson

AR-04 – James Lee Witt

CA-10 – Michael Eggman

CA-25 – Lee Rogers

IA-04 – Jim Mowrer

NJ-02 – Bill Hughes

NY-19 – Sean Eldridge

NY-21 – Aaron Woolf

OH-06 – Jennifer Garrison

OH-14 – Michael Wager

VA-02 – Suzanne Patrick

WV-02 – Nick Casey

The following races were named Emerging Districts:

MI-11

NC-02

PA-06

PA-08

About Red to Blue

The DCCC’s Red to Blue program highlights top Democratic campaigns across the country, and offers them financial, communications, grassroots, and strategic support. The program will introduce Democratic supporters to new, competitive candidates in order to help expand the fundraising base for these campaigns. Donate today: